A little bridge in Allentown has been causing a lot of discussion among Lehigh County officials this week.

A $1 million replacement of the Reading Road Bridge, a stone-arch bridge built in 1824 that runs over Cedar Creek, was previously approved by county commissioners in 2007.

But when the current board was asked Wednesday to approve a professional services contract for the new bridge design, the commissioners weren't ready to proceed just yet.

Commissioner Mike Schware said questions were raised about whether it was a necessary expense, as well as the prospect of tearing down one of the county's only remaining stone-arch bridges.

"It's not technically designated as historic, but that doesn't mean it isn't part of our history," said Schware, who lives a few blocks from the bridge. "I think it's a bridge well worth preserving."

Funds for the bridge replacement were already approved and set aside as part of a long-running program to replace and repair dozens of county bridges, county Executive Don Cunningham said.

Nevertheless, Cunningham said he understands the desire to preserve the Reading Road Bridge and said he is open to discussing alternatives with the commissioners, or leaving it alone altogether.

"We're not going to get into a battle on this," he said. "Hopefully we can find a spot where everybody's comfortable and happy with the way it should be done."

Glenn Solt, the county's director of general services, said the bridge is in need of repair and is down to a 3-ton limit. Any lower and it would have to be closed down. Solt said 2,600 cars travel on the bridge a day.

"If you replace a bridge from 1950 or 1960 that really doesn't need it, you're just wasting taxpayer money," Molovinsky said. "But if you replace a historic bridge from 1824 that doesn't need it, then you're stealing our culture."

Commissioners tabled the first reading of a professional services contract on Wednesday and plan to discuss the matter further next month.

Cunningham said if they decide not to move forward with the bridge replacement, the allocated money could be diverted toward work on a different county bridge.

Solt said stone-arch bridges like this one are susceptible to continual wear and degradation, and the Reading Road Bridge in particular has been worn down by overflowing waters during flooding.

Solt said repair work can be done without replacing the bridge, but he said it would not be cost-effective because the same work might need to be done again after a major storm event.

"Given enough money, you can always keep a bridge in operation, but it becomes prohibitively expensive, at least from a common sense standpoint," he said.

Solt said if the bridge were replaced, the ambiance could be preserved by designing it with pre-cast stone that resembles the existing structure.

But both Schware and Molovinsky said they did not believe that was a sufficient alternative to preserving the history of the Reading Road Bridge.

"That would just be putting some lipstick on a cement bridge," Molovinsky said.

The Reading Road Bridge has been repaired several times over its lifetime, including a major rehabilitation in the 1980s, during which a pedestrian walkway was installed alongside the bridge, Molovinsky said.